Toyota targets surge in BEV sales
Toyota is tipping an increase in profits for the coming financial year along with a five-fold jump in sales of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) as supply chain disruptions ease.
The Japanese carmaker made the predictions after it reported ¥2.45 trillion (NZ$29.13 billion) in net profit for the fiscal year to the end of March, which was down 14 per cent from a year earlier but still beat its projections of ¥2.36 trillion.
It expects full-year net profit for the current fiscal period to increase five per cent to ¥2.58tn on “improvements in semiconductor supply and the efforts of production sites”, reports the Japan Times.
Koji Sato, chief executive, says it has been a tough year for the company to produce and deliver vehicles to its customers, with natural disasters and the microchip shortage among the problems impacting production.
Toyota sold more than 10.5 million cars worldwide in the last financial year, including those made by its subsidiaries such as Hino Motors and Daihatsu, and is projecting this figure will rise to 11.4m.
Sato, pictured, has also vowed to “accelerate” the development of BEVs. The company plans to introduce 10 new battery-powered vehicles and lift sales of such models to 202,000 units in the year to March 2024, compared with just 38,000 last year.
It plans to boost overall EV sales from just over 20,000 units in 2022 to 1.5 million annually by 2026.
